You've Been Owled
by WeasleyWizardingWheezes12
Summary: A/U DH Non Epilogue Compliant. Two Londoners write to each other anonymously, but little do they know that their interactions have more effect than they ever could imagine? GW/DM Please Read and Review!
1. You've Got Mail

**(A/N) **Okay this is COMPLETELY A/U…as in Draco never went to Hogwarts. But he's still Lucius and Narcissa's son…just none of our main characters know what he looks like, just that he exists. Instead he went to….Pigfarts! No. Just kidding. Only a little. Well, he went to another school in well, Narcissa wanted to send him away before the war so he would be safe somewhere, so he went to The Salem Institute in America. (But you can pretend its really Pigfarts, because he had to be quiet all the time so he didn't wake up Rumbleroar's sleeping cubs…) Points to whomever can guess my insanely easy reference. Anyways, enjoy the story, I had a lot of fun with it. It is very strongly based on You've Got Mail. One of my favorite movies of alllll time, but I really enjoyed writing it. I think it works.

**The Daily Prophet**

**Communication of the Future**

Parvati Patil

Spellblogged

June 11, 1999

Introducing the MOL Network. No, this is not your Ordinary Wizarding Levels, but merely a new way of speaking to one another that will revolutionize the way wizards can communicate. Yes, we have the floo, and we also have Owl Post and all that, but honestly, Muggles have the Internet.

What is the Internet you ask? Well basically, it is a worldwide network connected by a bunch of cables and electricity, and its all very confusing. As you may now know, Wizards have recently used magic to connect such a network. By merely pointing your wand and casting and incantation, your device will be connected to not only the World Wide Web, but also you can join the Wizarding Network, an online resource for wizards.

Yes, this does mean you have to purchase a computer. I detail which one to buy in my latest blog post, but I will always be a fan of the Apple computer and their iMagic. (150 galleons, AppleM). But I do highly recommend it. Okay that being said, what exactly is the MOL network? Magic OnLine provides you a message dump on the magical server. You can write your mail on the computer itself and send it to anyone using the system. Not only that, live chat occurs as well with chat rooms for like-minded people. So I think it'll be a huge success, only a few sickles a month for unlimited storage. Anyways, I don't want to bore you too much, just wanted to tell you how excited I am to use it.

Also since I'm so confident this will take off, here is your first task. Get on MOL, buy a computer, and then send in something you want me to review: books, movies, anything. I'll report the news and then comment on your challenges. Until tomorrow readers, adieu.

* * *

6 months later

* * *

"Good Morning," Ginny said sitting up in bed as Seamus fiddled with his tie in front of the mirror. He was wearing one of his nicer shirts and dress pants, heading to meet with his editor to finally see if his book was ready to be sent to the publisher's.

She grinned slowly and stretched out as he was reading the prophet, eyes narrowed. Her back popped lightly, and she sat up on the bed as he sat down on the edge of it, eyes narrowed as he kept on reading.

"Listen to this," he said, "Everyone working at the Ministry of Magic had to have all of those games removed from the new computers, like solitaire, mine sweeper."

Ginny gave a sound of mock interest as she walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth. _Here he goes again_ she thought with slight annoyance.

"Because in the entry level ministry positions, apparently the productivity since the computers were installed went down about 54 percent!" He finished, waiting for a reaction. Ginny was in the middle of brushing and then she groaned to herself, she emerged from the bathroom after spitting and looked at him with an expression of shock on her face.

"Aren't you late?" She asked.

"This is the end of the Wizarding world. I thought we could avoid it, but we just had to follow muggles into this quagmire."

"Yep," said Ginny softly with a grin. She went to his closet and found a jacket, knowing he would forget and realize it was cold and then have to come back, delaying him from his meeting even further.

"I called it Ginevra, I called it the first time I saw the blasted things being advertised," he said, his Irish accent becoming more prominent as his voice rose, "But no one could see that I was—" He looked at his watch, "late." Ginny laughed and walked into the bathroom to complete washing herself. As she finished washing up, she figured she should at least bid her boyfriend a farewell. She changed into a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and went to the kitchen.

There was a small typewriter by the kitchen table, cover haphazardly thrown on it. She straightened it up and then walked into the living room where Seamus was putting his coat on and also sticking on a hat to deal with the relatively cool weather. Ginny smiled, it was moments like this where her heart warmed up, his fury at little things like computers, and his hatred of winter apparel. He only wore it because he knew that she would throw a fit if that was the reason he was sick.

"I'll see you tonight?" She asked him as she walked closer towards him. He brushed his lips against her cheek. He turned once more, kissing her softly on the lips. She returned the kiss and ran her hand up and down his arm comfortingly.

"Sushi place," he said.

"Great, bye," said Ginny as he left. She peered out of the slightly ajar door and watched his figure retreat from their townhouse into the chilly autumn air. She closed the door gingerly and walked over to the large bay windows they had looking out onto the street. She kneeled on the window seats and watched him retreat to the crosswalk, waiting to turn to the familiar alley they call Diagon. She grinned and jumped down from the window seat, a familiar feeling of guilt and joy bubbling up in her stomach.

She walked over to her bedroom, her heart pounding as she felt that he could apparate into their living room at any second. She sat down in front of her computer and heard the familiar sound as it started up. She pulled out her wand and held it to the computer, muttering the spell that it took to begin the connection to the Internet. Although they did not have to use a dial up modem, which was the only thing that they could magically connect to at that time, because the Wizarding computer software, being so new, depended on muggle developers before it. So she sat there watching the three little windows and hearing the familiar sounds of the computer dialing the number and connecting to the Internet.

"Welcome," said the computer. Ginny listened then anxiously for the three words that she longed to hear above all others.

"You've got mail," said the computer and her heart reached her throat. She smiled and clicked the little owl on the side of the screen and as the page loaded, he flapped his wings. She bit her lip lightly in anticipation.

GALLEONS GALLEONS: Do you want to own a lot of money by working from home?

-Delete-

LOVE NOW: Not finding love? Well maybe its just a "size problem" Now introducing a new pill that is guaranteed to enhance your –

-Delete-

Ginny sighed; all of these emails seemed to be the colloquial spam. And then her eyes glanced over the fourth one in the series.

UK152 Rory

She hit the "read mail" key and felt her hand shaking slightly as the loud pounding of her heart became even more imminent. A smile captured her lips as she waited impatiently for the screen to load, wishing she could take the little hourglass that had popped up on the screen and shatter it. As this thought came to her mind, the letter opened up.

To: Shopgirl

From: UK152

Re: Rory

"Rory is my dog, he loves London just as much as I do—" she began, reading aloud. As she did, she stopped, letting his words wash over her and feeling the unadulterated joy at hearing the beautiful words from this stranger.

_Although he likes to eat the crap off of the sidewalk sometimes, thrown away chocolate frogs, Bertie's beans, and I prefer going to the store to get them. Rory likes to play quidditch sometimes too with me. Wipe that shocked expression from your face, he'd be a great flier if he could. But no, I just throw the snitch and he goes and finds it. He's rather good, you know, the Hollyhead Harpies actually asked him to join as a chaser—_

Draco continued to type, a small smile gracing his delicate features. He lifted his hand and tousled his platinum hair while trying to think of something clever. Rory placed his head Draco's lap and whimpered a little. Draco laughed and ran his hand over Rory's head fondly, scratching behind his ears. He then knew what he was to say next.

_But he decided that he did not want to be a professional sports player, instead, choosing to stay with me so that he could spend most of his day sleeping on a large silver pillow the size of a kitchen table. As I type this, I look outside to the falling leaves. Don't you love London in the fall? Makes me want to go to the store and buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of quills if I knew your name and address. But to be honest, I do kind of like not knowing. This not knowing has its charms. _

"Sweetie," said a voice coming from the stairs. Draco changed windows and made a sound indicating that he had heard her. He was only half dressed for work while she was wearing the latest designer in everything, her hair was tied up, and the jacket she wore was more expensive than his furniture. She clacked into the kitchen in her stilettos and pointed her wand at the espresso machine that immediately began to whir. In her well-manicured hand, she held the paper and began to read aloud to Draco who was still sitting at the kitchen table. Rory whimpered a little and then curled up in his pillow.

"I'm late," she stated matter-of-factly before continuing to give Draco a recap of what she had just read, "Random Fireplace, my favorite book publisher—" she added sarcastically, "Has just fired Emmanuel Clarke, good riddance. And Daniel Walker just died. Which means that is one less person that I'm not speaking to—" she chugged down the small cup of espresso and waited for another. "Justin's book got a good review, which means he'll be super annoying today at work—and tonight at the benefit dinner—"

"Am I going?" Draco asked, suddenly wearily recalling a vague assent to one of her questions to get her to shut up.

"You promised," said Pansy pulling the cup out of the espresso machine and blowing on it to let it cool down a bit.

"Can't I just give them money?" Draco asked standing up and stretching. His shirt was only half buttoned and his tie was haphazardly placed around his neck. Pansy pursed her lips in disapproval and just stared coldly. Draco felt his stomach drop, he knew what her cold stares meant, and they never ended well for him.

"Alright, I'll go." He said walking up to her and kissing her forehead. She looked up at him with stern eyes as he smiled nervously. "You're late." He added. She tore away from him groaning in agreement.

"I know I know I know," she said kissing him on the cheek and putting her highly expensive peacoat on. She rushed out the door as he heard the doors of the lift ding open and then closed on the landing outside. He sighed and walked over to his laptop stretching again as Rory resumed his nap. Draco smiled and scratched his favorite being affectionately behind his ears. In America he was allowed to have a dog in addition to a cat, toad, and an owl. Apparently the Salem Institute allowed pets, disallowed houses, and worked in a completely different education system. One he was not aware of when he moved back to England following the completion of his education. He sighed and walked over to his computer, hoping that the voice would tell him what he wanted to hear most.

He felt his stomach flip around guiltily as he waited for his laptop to power back up after he had closed the lid. He held his wand to the side and murmured the enchantment watching the box pop up on the screen displaying the slow modem connector. As it dialed and made the familiar white-noise type beeping sounds he walked into his kitchen and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He liked coffee well enough, but in the morning, he was content with the sweet acidic taste of fruit.

He sat back down in his chair and the computer displayed what he had been hoping for. He recited the familiar text along with the computer.

"Welcome," he said pausing for hope, "You've got mail!" His voice changed, going from hopeful to happy as he opens the letter from his mysterious pen pal Shopgirl.

_I like to start my letter to you as if we have been talking for a while, as if we are in the middle of a deep and meaningful conversation. I like to pretend that you and I are the oldest of friends, and that we know every little secret about each other—as opposed to what we actually are. Complete strangers that met on a chat room—about pets—claiming we had never been before. It's nice though, this thing we have going. I always open up my computer—every morning and I ask myself, "What will he say today?" I hate how long it takes to boot up, my heart exploding of curiosity alone. I feel my heart pound quickly as the screen loads up, that familiar beeping noise only causing me to grow more and more impatient. When I finally make it online, I stop breathing until I hear those three little words. You've got mail. I hear nothing, not the sound from the streets of London, not that man across the street that sells London souvenirs, just the sound of my pounding heart. I have mail. From you. _

She closed the email and pressed the x button on the top left hand corner of the screen. Ginny loved that she had no idea who it was that she was speaking to. She loved the thrill she felt when she opened up the emails from him, knowing that even if he was judging her somewhere, she did not know it. She did not know him. She smiled and touched the screen softly, feeling the static electricity of the desktop computer. She held her wand and took the enchantment off, relegating it to a normal muggle computer. She then stretched out her back, her neck popping as it had been hunched over the screen for so long. She checked her watch and got ready for work, happy with the way that her morning ended.

As she walked across the streets of London, holding a coffee mug in her hand and a bagel in the other she saw each passing face and wondered if he was the man that made her open her computer each morning. It was a silly thought, but as they were strangers, she had no way of knowing if she had ever bumped into that one person that with a few clicks of his keys made her day a little brighter. She stopped at the same news stand she had always stopped at, asking for a paper and awkwardly holding her food items as she searched in her purse for an extra knut. To her dismay, the knut she had found fell to the ground and she struggled to pick it up.

"Here you go," said Draco, leaning down and handing it over to her with a grin. "Same for me. And also the Daily Prophet, the Diagon Weekly, the Daily Standard" He continued as Ginny began to walk away.

"Thanks," she said over her shoulder and continued down the street, turning left into another corner of Diagon Alley.

(A/N) Gah! I know it's short, but I also want it to be simple and what you enjoy. I do kind of love the plot of the movie, so I might stick with it. Draco seems a little out of character, but if you're familiar with the movie, you know it'll come out soon. So review! Let me know if you like it! Also, the more reviews I get, the faster I update! Maybe even tomorrow….?


	2. The Shop Around the Corner

As Ginny and Draco both walked down various areas of Diagon Alley, numerous shops opened their windows, grilles and doors. Food carts opened up and the street just came to life before both of their eyes. This was one of Ginny's favorite parts of the days, after children had gone to school and she could just observe this every day, the beauty and the joy of people starting their days. She breathed in the crisp fall air, reveling in the light bite to the air as if the frost was just about to hit. She stopped by the Magical Menagerie scratching behind the ears of a feline sitting outside the shop.

"Morning Paul," she said with a cheerful wave. Paul, the young boy who helped out when his older brother went to school waved back.

"Hey Ms. Weasley ma'am," he said leaning on his broom.

"Paul we went over this, it's Ginny," she said ruffling his hair.

"Bye Ginny," said Paul as Ginny walked away. She turned and gave a small wave as he giggled, obviously infatuated. Ginny smiled to herself and continued on her meandering path to work. She made the final turn and Hermione was leaning against the wooden grates impatiently. Ginny had the wand authorization, a security measure put in place after the war to deter rogue Death Eaters, to open the shop and Hermione had refused to take it, as Ginny did own the store when it began and Hermione had already began Auror training. Now it had been only a year later, Hermione essentially ran the store, but just never got around to going to the Diagon Alley management office and filling out the appropriate paperwork. She grinned and waved as Hermione gave a sigh of relief.

"Hello Hermione. It's a beautiful day. Isn't it the most wonderful of wonderful days?" She asked with a bright flourish as she whipped out her wand and pressed it to the side of the grate, which made a creaking noise as it rose.

"Sure why not," said Hermione jumping up and down a little eager to get inside from the breezy air. As they waited for the store to finish opening, two carts opening up for the morning almost collided with one another, their drivers making a horrid deal about the whole thing. They both started cursing and yelling at each other, showing each other obscene hand gestures, this pretty much became a trend.

"Don't you just love London in the fall?" Ginny asked walking inside. Hermione looked around the alley and wondered if Ginny had gotten a sharp knock to her head.

The bookstore itself was very charming and beautiful. It was small, had a bunch of both Wizarding and muggle books, small areas for children to sit and read, and posters of quidditch teams, fun movies, and most of all, Hermione had brought in all of the posters from her room. Unsurprisingly they were all posters of various books. Hermione then saw Ginny sitting at the cash register with a dreamy expression on her face.

"Ginny, are you okay? What's going on with you?" She asked sitting down on the stool next to her and picking up the inventory checklist.

"Nothing," said Ginny unconvincingly.

"Are you in love?" Hermione asked nudging her and crosschecking names and store quantities on their computer.

"In love?" Ginny asked herself, "No—yes" she corrected. "Of course I am. I'm in love with Seamus, I mean I'm practically living with Seamus—" she trailed off, "Do you think we could get our Christmas mailers out to the Owl Post by this week?"

"Monday for sure," said Hermione, "I have an essay due on Estate Tax laws, four rolls of parchment, on Friday. Now stop changing the subject. I'm just going to sit here until you tell me." She sat up on the table.

"Is it infidelity if you're involved with someone on e-mail?" Ginny asked.

"Cybersex?" Hermione responded.

"Ew, of course not that's gross," she said.

"Well don't do it, not that much fun," said Hermione sliding down from the table.

"Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed, blocking all thoughts of Hermione potentially doing this out of her brain. "It's nothing like that though," she added, "We just E-mail. It's really nothing, and I'm probably going to stop e-mailing him because it's kind of getting—"

"Out of hand?"

"Well kind of confusing," she said, partially to herself, "But not really. Because its nothing." Ginny sat behind the register.

"Why don't you go to the main office and get your wand authorized?"

"Well," said Hermione sighing, "In the war, I was always prepared with everything and with eternal knowledge on everything as well. So I've decided to take a very long break from at least one of those, and I certainly won't stop reading…so I figure, as long as you're here, I'll wait for you to show up." She grinned. Ginny smiled as well. They both proceeded to do more things before opening up, Hermione went to the reading section and she cleaned up the small wrappers and glasses that had accumulated over the course of the previous days. Ginny checked the cash register and that the contents matched what was in there the night before.

"Where did you meet this mystery man?" Hermione asked after a few moments of silence.

"I don't even remember," said Ginny shutting the cash drawer, resulting in a loud jingle. Hermione looked over the shelf she was currently checking for cups, and stared at Ginny who looked down at the ground.

"Well after Harry and I broke up, I was bored and kind of lonely and wandered into this chat room for pet-lovers as kind of a joke, and he was there, and we started talking to each other," she trailed off as she remembered the excitement she felt at finding another kindred soul.

"What did you talk about?"

"Books, music, our mutual love of London. It's harmless, completely meaningless," she admitted, not lying. "Bouquets of quills," she added, grinning to herself. She looked up at Hermione who had raised an eyebrow and would understandably have no idea what she was talking about. "Forget it," she added, as Hermione groaned in frustration, and partially with curiosity. "We made a rule about that. I don't know his name, what he does, or exactly where he lives, so it will be really easy to stop seeing him—because I'm not." Ginny said definitively.

"Okay," said Hermione grinning, walking the short distance between the two of them and placing her hand over the younger witch's. As the two of them talked about this mysterious pen pal, the door chimed the entrance of Ronald Weasley.

"Ron, are you on-line?" Ginny asked curiously. Ron shrugged.

"As I see it, the internet is another way to be rejected by women—and I already have a woman, so why go," he said wrapping his arms around Hermione who ahemed rather loudly. "—Did I say woman? I mean Hermione." He said kissing the top of her head.

"Nice save," said Hermione.

"Why thank you," said Ron. "Has the new order come in Gin?"

"No, but it should be in a bit, they said they'd send their owl ahead of them when they were about 15 minutes away," said Ginny as an owl came into the store signaling the pending arrival of more books.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," said Hermione, "Harry said he'd drop by later. Is that alright?"

Ginny stared down at the counter, slightly uneasy. "Yeah it's fine," she said after a bit, "We broke up ages ago. He's best friends with my older brother and best friend. If I don't get used to seeing him everywhere, what kind of friend and sister am I?" She laughed a little hesitatingly to herself. "I'm fine," she added when a concerned Hermione patted her on the shoulder.

She giggled somewhat nervously and then made up an excuse to go outside to the back of the store. She sat on the steps that led up to the stairs and told Ron who was waiting to go back inside and open the store while she waited for the shipment of things. She looked across the alley at the brightly painted store that was the only signal of her brother's shop. She liked that they shared the back alley; she could pop by and visit whenever she wanted. She then sat down on the stairs and fought the confused tears that threatened to rise at the mention of Harry's name. She was with Seamus now, she reminded herself.

"Hey Gin," said George walking down the alley towards his store.

"Hey George," she said rushing down the stairs to hug her elder brother.

"You okay?" He asked her as she began to cry a little bit in his arms.

"I'm fine," she said, wiping away the few tears that had fallen, "Just a little confused—that's all."

"Did you see Harry today?" George asked knowingly. She shook her head. He sat down on the stairs beside her shop.

"Don't you have to open up your shop?" She asked. He shrugged.

"Nah," he said. "That can wait a bit. Tell your big brother what's going on." He grinned.

"I know I shouldn't be upset about Harry anymore, I mean I was the one that broke up with him. But it's just hard, hearing his name, hearing whenever his quidditch team is in town. Am I being stupid?" She asked. George ruffled her hair eliciting a shout of disapproval.

"No, you're not," he said, "What happened between you guys? I'm sorry I never asked. When you two broke up—I really was in no condition to—well," he looked down remembering the circumstances which led him to stay in St. Mungo's for an extended period of time and then transfer to a rehabilitation clinic.

"No," said Ginny, "It's okay. Harry just, well, we both got very busy with our careers, and his quidditch team did better and better, and he ended up touring a lot. What with that and all the media attention on our relationship, it just got too hard to handle. And then I would have had to give up my shop to travel with him and his team, and I wasn't willing to do that because Hermione and I worked so hard to get the bookshop going. So, I ended it. And that's when you came back from the clinic—so you know what happens after that," she trailed off. George nodded grimly.

"Does he know about you and Seamus since he's been on tour for the better part of last year?" George asked.

"He knows we went out—he doesn't know that Seamus practically moved into my house. He doesn't even know I bought a brownstone," she added. George patted her shoulder and grinned. "So how are you?" Ginny asked, "Last I heard you were going out with Parvati?" George nodded.

"Yeah," he said grinning a little. Ginny cocked her head in curiosity.

"How did you two meet?" she asked.

"Support group for identical twins who have had the other pass away. Padma passed away during the war as well, and anyways, we've been talking, and she's really not that bad." He smiled, "I actually quite like her."

Ginny grinned as the aforementioned Indian approached them in the alleyway. Behind her came the shipment Ginny was waiting for. George waved at Ginny and then proceeded to walk towards his girlfriend who kissed him lightly on the cheek before waving back towards Ginny.

"Hey," said Ginny warmly. The two of them shared a friendly hug, and George leaned down to hug his younger sister as well. He and Parvati turned and walked into his store, chatting animatedly as they went. Ginny grinned, it had been six months since he had come home from the clinic, and he had been in group therapy since then. Although he had lost his penchant for breaking rules and pranking, he had regained some of his former zest for life. He laughed more often and had become a hint of the George that Ginny remembered. She shook her head as the truck carrying her loads of books backed into the alley stopping at the stairs.

After signing for her packages and things, Ginny showed the delivery men the storeroom, and headed back into the shop to oversee what was going on. Hermione had taken her usual perch by the cash register and Ron was helping a family find a set of books. She was extremely grateful for the help she had received from the two of them. Hermione was helping out while she prepared for her NEWTS, and Ron took turns helping both Ginny and George with their respective stores. She felt he spent more time at her store, but only to spend more time with Hermione.

"Ms. Weasley, do you guys have the new Harvey Pierce books?" This child asked, referring to the new series that had taken the Wizarding world by storm. The books were about this young boy that had woken up one day and found a magical school in his wardrobe. Kids and adults alike were enchanted by this new series.

"Of course we do," said Ginny, directing them to J.S. Lewings, the author. As she directed the young children, she looked up and saw a familiar mess of jet black hair entering the store. She felt her heart speed up and do uncomfortable somersaults. They made eye contact for a second, and Ginny looked away. She looked back up and noticed he had not shifted his gaze, instead he gave her a soft smile which she returned. Also, to her dismay, there was a young witch beside him, fawning over his every move.

"Hey," he said, when she finally made the painfully short journey over to him.

"Hey," she replied. They were unsure of what to do next. What was the protocol? Ginny wondered to herself. Should she hug first, should he initiate the hug, was it a kiss on the cheek? Soon she felt his arms wrap around her shoulders and she felt herself returning the hug.

"This is Cressida," he said, "she's a chaser on the team."

"Hello Ginevra," she said in a slightly Austrian accent, "It's nice to meet you." Ginny shook her hand.

"Hey," she said with a grin, "It's nice to meet you too."

She sighed, hoping for a letter in her inbox that night when she got home, something to make this day better than how it started.

(A/N) So I'm pretty much going to keep the basic skeleton of the movie, but I'm kind of making it my own, so you're going to see more of a departure. I felt that I should take some time to address backstories, but I hate doing that in the little author note thingies, so, I tried to integrate them into this :)

Ummmm, okay so pairings now, before you get too confused:

Ginny/Seamus

Draco/Pansy

George/Parvati

Hermione/Ron

Harry/Cressida

Remember, every time you don't press review, a fairy dies. Do you want to be responsible for the death of a fairy? Thanks for reading :D Love you all!

Coming up next: Draco's side


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